An Intermountain Health caregiver, now an healthcare interpreter with Intermountain Utah Valley Hospital, was recently reunited with the care team who saved his wife and infant son’s life 27 years later.
Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates cultures and contributions of the American Latino community. Martin Fernandez’s story encompasses just that.
Fernandez, an Intermountain interpreter, and his wife, Gabriela‘s story began in 1995 when they were married in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They moved to Provo, Utah a week later to attend Brigham Young University.
The couple learned they were expecting their firstborn son the following year. Gabriella’s pregnancy began rocky. as she began to feel sick early into her pregnancy. At the time, many physicians in the Provo and Orem area where the Fernandez lived were booked out, which delayed new patient appointments. This resulted in friends recommending that Gabriela see a physician at Intermountain Delta Community Hospital.
The following year, Gabriela was 31 weeks pregnant, and had severe complications which caused her to have an emergency delivery. She gave birth to their 3.1 pound son, Tomas, at Intermountain Delta Hospital.
Tomas’ delivery was not easy for Gabriela. He was transferred by helicopter with additional medical assistance to Utah Valley Hospital, where he continued to receive care by their NICU team.
“It was a very critical moment in our lives,” said Fernandez. “But at the same time, as parents, we felt safe when they came into my wife’s room with that portable incubator so that my wife could see Tomas, touch him, and say goodbye. She was to be admitted to Delta Hospital, and Tomas would be taken to the NICU at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo.”
Martin would visit Tomas every other day and return to Gabriela, who was hospitalized at Intermountain Delta Hospital, with Polaroid photos of Tomas’ sent by the Utah Valley Hospital NICU team until Tomas was discharged 30 days later.
“In 1996 we had the opportunity to care for many infants from all over Utah who would come to the NICU to get well. Tiny Tomas came to us tiny and requiring help from a ventilator to breath for some time,” said Wendy Robinson, Tomas’ NICU nurse, and current assistant nurse manager of the Utah Valley Hospital NICU.
“At first, Tomas required help to stay warm and was not able to eat for himself, all help to grow and stay strong came from an IV into his umbilical cord. It was hard to see Tomas and his family separated by distance and sometimes by a bit of a language barrier,” recalled Robinson. “We would take extra care to give Tomas the loving touch that he missed while Mom was recovering in a hospital far away. We would take pictures with our Polaroid camera to try and document his stay, including milestones like breathing on his own with no help from a machine.”
Those efforts made a big impression on Martin Fernandez.
“I could never forget that place. We had never seen so many teams assisting so many premature babies, assisted so efficiently by a group of professionals that you could feel and notice that what they were doing they were doing with excellence and love,” said Martin. “Our son could not have survived without the help of the Intermountain staff, doctors, and nurses at Delta Hospital and the NICU at Utah Valley Hospital.”
A short time later, the Fernandez family moved back to Argentina with baby Tomas. There, they began their own business and were able to open a language school and translation services. Following some time, they added two more children to their family.
Their children received a good education in Argentina, but upon graduating from their high schools, they decided to continue their education and moved to the United States.
After their youngest daughter also decided to move, Martin and Gabriela made the decision to move back to Utah to be close to family.
They moved back to Utah July 2022, when Martin began applying for jobs as an interpreter and translator. He was hired by Intermountain Health to serve as a medical interpreter.
After several months working at Intermountain Primary Children’s and the Intermountain Salt Lake Clinic, Martin transferred to the Utah Valley area. To his dismay, his first job site was Intermountain Utah Valley Hospital.
After interpreting several times in the NICU, Martin took his chances and asked if there were any doctors and nurses who still worked who may have been around April 1996. To his surprise, he was reunited with three caregivers from Tomas’ care team including his nurse, Wendy Robinson.
“They represent the many doctors and nurses who helped us in 1996. I never imagined, back in April 1996, with my wife and children in the hospital, that I would one day work for Intermountain,” said Fernandez. “There were no medical interpreters in 1996, but now I am grateful to be able to work for the same hospital that saved the lives of my wife and our son, Tomas.”
“It was much harder to communicate back then with some families who were new to the United States,” said Robinson. “We would have Spanish-speaking members of our team who would do their best to interpret when they were at work. We would sometimes find it difficult to answer all their questions and share the plan of care for their baby.”
“We are so grateful now to have the help of certified interpreters. They make such a difference. They are a patient and caring team who are willing to stay with parents and support them through an adventure in the NICU that they never planned on,” added Robinson. “It was great to reconnect with Martin. It’s great to learn how Tomas has grown and thrived, and have Martin now help support the NICU and help other parents who are now on an unexpected adventure in the NICU.”
A full-circle story has been completed.
About Intermountain Health
Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 34 hospitals, 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.
